Joe Blog's A Day In The Life Of Your Average Joe

An Interview With lisati

This week I have one of our long standing contributors to the Ubuntu Forums - lisati. Somebody who I find to be nice to the new guys, and helpful to all. I'm glad we have people like lisati within the Ubuntu community, and especially on the forums.

1. Tell as much as you're willing about your "real life" like name, age, gender, location, family, religion, profession, education, hobbies, etc.

I'm a 49-year-old male of British & Dutch heritage, married to a "preacher's kid" of Samoan heritage (NZ born), and we live in Porirua, New Zealand. Mrs Lisati was born locally (Porirua), and I was born in Hastings, NZ. Although we both grew up in the Auckland region, we didn't get to meet until the early 1990s some time after we had both moved to the Wellington area - I moved for work-related reasons (IT, programming for a company which at the time had branches in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch (?)), and Mrs Lisati moved down with her family.

2. When and how did you become interested in computers? in Linux? in Ubuntu?

I first became interested in computers back in the 1970s, when the internet was relatively unknown to the general public, and when a desktop computer was almost as rare as a hen's teeth. My first hands-on experience was through a job during school holidays, as an operator for a mainframe by Burroughs. A year or two later the high-school I was attending purchased a desktop by Wang. I think they were one of the first schools in the area to buy a computer that they were happy to let the students use.

An interest in Linux, and Ubuntu in particular, came many years later. This was initially out of curiosity but later as an alternative to Windows for everyday use (email, surfing, basic wordprocessing etc). I started using Ubuntu regularly in 2007 with the 7.04 release ("Feisty Fawn") and have had at least one machine with it installed ever since. The purists might wince, but I keep Windows around because I've paid good money for some Windows software with a feature set I like to help with video editing.

3. When did you become involved in the forums (or the Ubuntu community)? What's your role there?

I first joined the Ubuntu forums not long after installing Ubuntu for the first time. This was towards the end of June 2007. Although I seem to have been indulging in discussions in the community cafe a lot lately, I sometimes mess up and actually find a question posed by another forum user that I can actually answer. In spite of the bean count and the length of time I've been using the forums, I still consider myself to be a beginner.

4. Are you an Ubuntu member? If so, how do you contribute? If not, do you plan on becoming one?

I'm not currently an Ubuntu member, and have no immediate aspirations to be one, but I have been known to browse the forums for unanswered posts.

5. What distros do you regularly use? What software? What's your favorite application? Your least favorite?

As I type my laptop is dual-boot, Vista Home Premium & Ubuntu 9.04, and has the only Linux distro on my home network (the other machines, both desktops, are XP and Win98SE). When Ubuntu is up and running, it's usually Evolution & Firefox that I have running. With XP & Vista it's usually some video editing or DVD authoring software.

6. What's your fondest memory from the forums, or from Ubuntu overall? What's your worst?

The thing I like about the forums is the generally friendly atmosphere and the wide range of knowledge expertise that is represented.

If I am mistaken in my response to another user's question, there is usually someone else who is able to help set things straight.

7. What luck have you had introducing new computer users to Ubuntu?

A couple of the in-laws have been exposed to Ubuntu when they've come to pick my brains, and a t-shirt from the Canonical store has prompted a couple of comments from people I've met.

8. What would you like to see happen with Linux in the future? with Ubuntu?
9. If there was one thing you could tell all new Ubuntu users, what would it be?

"It might not be exactly the same as what you're used to: don't be scared to ask questions."